Over the past 2,000 years, Catholic faith has inspired communities to build houses of worship in the most unlikely of places, to serve remote villages, mark far-away landscapes with Catholic landmarks or because of local traditions tracing miracles and apparitions in remote locations. Portugal’s Chapel of Our Lady of Lapa is a prominent example of faith-inspired remote architecture.
Built in 1694 in the parish of Soutelo, on the slopes of Penamourinha Hill, 40 miles north of Porto, this chapel was constructed inside a boulder. From above, it looks as if a giant lifted the pumpkin-shaped boulder and fitted the triangular chapel just underneath it. It is impressive enough to imagine people building a church on top of an isolated hill in the 17th century, but the fact that locals carved a granite boulder and somehow fitted a man-made construction within a natural rock formation is nothing short of an engineering miracle.
This engineering marvel was constructed by João Gonçalves and his wife Margarida da Silva, from the parish of Santo Adrião de Soutelo. According to a tradition, a Marian apparition took place outside the boulder-church in 1805, leading to the first waves of pilgrimages to this remote church. Today, the most important pilgrimage takes place on the second Sunday of July, where religious celebrations like novenas, Mass and candlelight processions intertwine with popular festivities such as concerts, fireworks, and live music.
The chapel is only open for services during pilgrimages, but during the rest of the year, believers and tourists alike are welcome to climb up the hill to contemplate this place of worship and its scenic surroundings. A recent visitor described the Chapel of Our Lady of Lapa as a place that “amazes us, uplifts our spirit, and transmits calm and serenity.” The climb to reach this hilltop chapel is an integral part of the experience, leading to “shed all our frustrations and worldly vicissitudes and emerging lighter and more hopeful.” As this inspired visitor said, visiting the stone church can help people shed some of the stones that weigh down on their lives.
